Jimmy Deenihan, Minister for Arts and Culture, has come up with a terrific way to commemorate 1916. He’s going to refurbish the National Gallery. He is to spend €20 million of taxpayers’ money giving the gallery a make-over in time for 2016. Clearly he knows something about the National Gallery’s role in the Easter Rising, … Read more
Hugh O’Flaherty was actually born in Cork in 1898 (his father was in the RIC) but he grew up in Killarney, where his parents had settled down. A noted athlete in his youth, he trained as a missionary priest and embarked on a globe-trotting career that saw him serve the Vatican in a range of … Read more
‘Christ did not come down from the cross’ was the late Pope John Paul II’s response when questions were raised about his failing health and painfully obvious public suffering in the latter years of his pontificate. So how do we explain the surprise resignation announcement of his successor, Benedict XVI, in contravention of papal tradition … Read more
Sir,—Yoursummary of the events of August ‘69 (HI 17.4, July/Aug. 2009) says that on 13August, ‘The British government announced that troops were being sent to Derry’to stand between the combatants and to restore law on order. In fact, troopswere not to bedeployedin Derry until the evening of the 14th. (British troops were of coursepermanently stationed … Read more
Sir,—In relationto the letters from Micheál Mac Donncha and Nicholas Furlong (HI 17.5, Sept./Oct. 2009) challenging JoostAugusteijn’s statement in his letter (HI 17.4, July/Aug. 2009) that ‘The Sinn Féin electionmanifesto [in the 1918 general election], did not call for a republic, nor didit make it clear that force was going to be used’, I would like to … Read more